Update: Politico, “Meet” and CBS

The Monday Conspiracy Theory we dropped earlier isn’t really a conspiracy at all: There’s something to it and we’ve dug a big deeper to find out.

The reason “Meet the Press” had to identify the Politico’s Roger Simon as a “syndicated columnist” instead of “Politico’s chief political columnist” on yesterday’s show is because of Politico’s relationship with CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Because of that partnership (whereby Politico staffers appear every other week), no Politico employees are allowed on either “Meet the Press” or “This Week with George Stephanopolous” (“The Chris Matthews Show” does not apply here).

Because of the Politico/CBS deal, the Politico and CBS were not happy that Simon was asked to be on “Meet,” but a deal was brokered in the form of Simon’s “syndicated columnist” tag.

That said, don’t expect to see Simon (or any other Politico staffer) on the show anytime soon–we hear that this week was a rare, even one-time, exception.

Subscribe to Adweek

Featured Courses

Facebook MarketingBuild a fan base and grow your business on FacebookLearn more >Google AnalyticsMaster Google Analytics to build traffic and increase revenue for your brandLearn more >Content ManagementCreate, edit, and publish content using CMS platformsLearn more >Public Relations: Build Your PortfolioMaster the key documents you need to succeed in PRLearn more >See more Courses >